E$timator

This tool is designed to facilitate the estimation of costs and cost-effectiveness of educational or other social programs. It is primarily designed for researchers, analysts, educational administrators, and policymakers, but it is free for anyone to use provided you sign a license agreement when you register. Additional free cost analysis tools and resources, including Excel-based cost analysis templates and one-on-one technical assistance, are available from the Cost Analysis in Practice Project (CAP Project), funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.

E$timator is set up with U.S. prices and inflation/geographical indices. To estimate costs for non-U.S. programs you can change the indices in Project Settings and build your own database of local currency prices in MyPrices.

To get started, click on Register if you are a first time user, or Login if you are a returning user.

If you are using Chrome you will need to enable pop-ups. For security, remember to log out when you are done.

Please note that while E$timator will store your data and output for you, and we will maintain security features to safeguard the web site and data as long as we have the funds to do so, Teachers College, Columbia University is NOT responsible for your data. We recommend that you regularly use the Excel export buttons to store your data offline.